Following the competition-crushing success of their comeback album — an outcome few expected, not least the band themselves — Take That have attained the status of national treasures. The plucky four-piece not only showed Robbie they could do it without him, but managed the feat despite lacking a song anywhere near as brilliant as Back for Good. The Circus will, no doubt, achieve similar sales, with songs as propulsive and swollen with giant choruses as The Garden, Greatest Day, Said It All and the apparently Amy Winehouse-referencing How Did It Come to This. The title track boasts one of Gary Barlow’s most heart-wrenching melodies, which he sings beautifully, if adenoidally. The album is no classic, but nor is it a dud. Take That are, famously, some of the nicest people in pop. Perhaps karma is rewarding that.

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